Pharmacists call for easier access to COVID-19 medication Paxlovid

The COVID-19 medication Paxlovid is still too difficult to access in New Brunswick, despite recent improvements, according to some pharmacists.

Earlier this month, the province announced it expanded eligibility for the antiviral drug treatment, which is designed to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death for vulnerable adults with mild to moderate symptoms in the early stages of infection.

The Pfizer pills can also now be prescribed by primary care providers, such as doctors and nurse practitioners, without the need for a team assessment, and are available at all pharmacies at no cost.

But unless people work in a nursing home or live in an Indigenous community, a positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) lab test is still required to be prescribed Paxlovid.

This restricts access for many patients, said Daniel Landry, the infectious disease pharmacist at the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre in Moncton, because to be effective, Paxlovid must be taken within five days of the onset of symptoms.

"In my experience with the clinic, people would wait a day or two after they had symptoms [before saying to themselves], 'Oh, OK, I'll go get tested.' There, a day or two later, they have the results, and we are on day four or five of their illness," he said.

"So if you wait too long to get tested, sometimes you can really lose the window of opportunity to treat it."

Véronique Soucy, pharmacist-owner of the Jean Coutu pharmacy in Edmundston, agreed the limited time for the drug to be prescribed complicates matters.

"The best advice I have is if you are 50-plus and not fully vaccinated, apply for a PCR test," she said. "There are some people sometimes who have co-morbidities, and then we don't know what COVID has in store for us."

New Brunswick is the only Atlantic province that does not accept rapid tests for the prescription of Paxlovid.

The Department of Health said in an emailed statement it understands "that the deadline may be difficult to meet; however, both the drug and the process are new."

A total of 606 people have now been prescribed the drug, said department spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane. That's up from 323 on April 7.

He previously suggested several factors could account for the low numbers, including drug interactions with commonly prescribed drugs, contraindications with certain medical conditions, and limited availability.

Landry acknowledged Paxlovid it is not suitable for everyone because of its many possible interactions with other drugs.